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Historic Starts on Page 14 College Street/Academy Street intersection, now officially designated by the town as Andrew Johnson Square, are occupied by memorials to the 17th president. OLD HARMONY GRAVEYARD is next on the tour. This historic site is where many important former residents of the community were laid to rest. The site is located directly behind Greeneville Town Hall. The site was established as a cemetery in 1791 in connection with what was then Harmony Presbyterian Church. That congregation evolved into today’s First Presbyterian Church, which will be visited later on the tour route. Some of the Scots-Irish settlers of Greeneville are buried in Old Harmony Graveyard. Other notables who rest in Old Harmony Graveyard include
THE GREENEVILLE SUN GREENE COUNTY GUIDEBOOK Mordecai Lincoln, Dr. Hezekiah Balch, Dr. Charles Coffin, Valentine Sevier, William Dickson, Dr. Alexander Williams and Blackstone McDannel. Soldiers who were in every American war from the Revolution through the Civil War are buried there. The next site is nearby GREENEVILLE TOWN HALL. This classical-style building, completed in 1967, stands on historic grounds. The church that later became Greeneville’s First Presbyterian Church was on this site. At another time, the home of Judge Sam Milligan, a contemporary of Johnson, stood on the grounds. A pioneering abolitionist newspaper, published by a Quaker named Benjamin Lundy during the 1822-1824 period, was located on or near this site. The newspaper was called the Genius of Universal Emancipation. While in Greeneville, Lundy also published a weekly paper, the Economist and Political Paper. After 1824, the
Genius was moved to Baltimore. Jeffers Funeral & Cremation Services, next door to Town Hall, occupies an 1893 Victorian house, initially the M.P. Reeve home. From Town Hall, go across College Street to the Roby Fitzgerald Adult Center. Greeneville’s first public school was operated out of this building. Opening in the early 1890s, it eventually came to be known as Roby Fitzgerald School, named for Miss Roby Fitzgerald, a much-admired and much-loved principal and teacher who educated many Greeneville citizens within the school’s brick walls. Today the building houses the Roby Fitzgerald Adult Center (a senior citizens’ facility), and the RSVP and ACCESS programs. Next to the Roby Fitzgerald Adult Center is a small log cabin that is a representation of the CAPITOL OF THE LOST STATE OF FRANKLIN. From 1785 to 1788, Greeneville was the capital of the shortlived “Lost State of Franklin.”
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In 1796, this area became part of Tennessee when the state was established. The structure represents the style of a building, shown in early photographs, that was reported to have been the actual capitol building of the “lost state.” The original capitol stood on the site of the existing Greene County Courthouse. Behind the representation of the Franklin capitol and adjacent to the Greeneville-Greene County Library is BICENTENNIAL PARK, developed in 1983 in celebration of Greeneville’s 200th birthday. Near the park is the BIG SPRING, which runs through a picturesque stone-lined moat under a quaint, arching footbridge. Many years ago, it was simply a wilderness spring that attracted game, Native Americans, and, finally, settlers who became the first residents of Greeneville. Samuel Doak, famed frontier preacher, is said to have preached at this spring.
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For more than 150 years, the Big Spring served as the town’s major water supply. Close by the Big Spring is one of Greeneville’s two VALENTINE SEVIER HOUSES. Valentine Sevier, a nephew of John Sevier, Tennessee’s first governor — who also was governor of Franklin, an early settler, and a famed Indian fighter — built this house around 1820. It is a private residence now. Heading up North Main Street at the Spencer Street intersection, one next encounters the HENEGAR TRIM HOUSE, which dates from immediately after the Civil War. A few doors up from the Henegar Trim House is the JAMES M. FOWLER HOUSE, built in the 1850s. Dr. Fowler’s wedding coat was made by Andrew Johnson and is on display in the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site Visitor Center, which includes Johnson’s tailor shop. PLEASE SEE HISTORIC | 16
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